Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Thanksgiving isn't even here yet and some conservatives on the anti-gay right are already pushing the "War on Christmas."

For the luckily uninitiated, the "War on Christmas" is a yearly event in which conservatives, Fox News, and anti-gay groups either outright lie or blow small incidents way out of proportion to claim that there is some type of "conspiracy" to somehow strip the holiday of its supposed Christian heritage.

In other words, it is merely a fear tactic used to generate big ratings or fundraising profits. And it must be working because America has been exposed to it for so long that many of us are now desensitized to how Christmas is exploited by this awful nonsense.

American Family Association's phony new service, One News Now, has already begun ringing the alarm:

"Those who deny that there's no war on Christmas just have a different reality in which they live," says Liberty Counsel founder Mat Staver. The Christian attorney points to one recent example: the Veterans Affairs medical center in Salem, Virginia, which banned Christmas altogether – including the Christmas tree.
"This year we've seen a number of attacks on Christmas – [one of them being] the absurd situation that Christmas trees are not permitted," he says, referring to the Salem situation. "That is probably one of the most absurd positions of any government official: that a Christmas tree cannot be permitted because it's Christian and establishes a religion – and yet that's exactly what was happening at Salem, Virginia."

Remember how I said incidents are blown out of proportion?

The situation at medical center is a prime example. According to WSET News 13:

The center's administration sent a memo this week saying they would
not be putting up a Christmas tree in the common area, but people were
welcome to have them at their desks.The VA said it will have non-secular decorations up, but as a federal building, they cannot only have one religion represented. Last year, they had a Christmas tree as well as Hanukah and Kwanzaa decorations. Because of such a staff uproar after this memo, the V-A director held a meeting today. They
decided Christmas trees could be displayed in public areas but they
have to be accompanied by the respective symbols of the two other faiths
that celebrate during the holiday season.

According to the website, Snopes; which works to refute urban legends, factoids, memes, and rumors, the original memo was reiterating a 2002 federal policy which ensures that holiday displays in public areas of VA facilities
do not favor one religious faith group over another and do not appear to
be an official endorsement of religion.

Knowing the year this policy was enacted is important because unfortunately many conservatives and conservative sites, such as Allen West and Breitbart are linking President Obama to the controversy by claiming he was ultimately behind the memo when in actuality, according to Snopes, neither the president nor his Administration had anything to do with it:

On 20 November 2015, the web site Breitbart published an article titled "Obama’s VA Facility Bans ‘Merry Christmas,'" claiming:

President Barack Obama’s Department of Veterans Affairs
has banned employees at its facility in Salem, Virginia, from saying
“Merry Christmas” to veterans.

On 21 November 2015, the blog of Allen West followed up with a post titled "Unbelievable: Obama’s VA issues BAN on Christmas trees…this happens IMMEDIATELY":

Sadly, we’ve come to expect attempts at “sanitizing” the
Christmas holiday to strip it of Christian connotations that might
offend the perpetually-offended, just as we’ve come to expect President
Obama’s lack of respect both for our Constitution and the men and women
who’ve valiantly served to protect it. But when the Obama administration
combined these three fouls into one giant hat trick, it didn’t go over
so well with veterans who wish to mark one of the biggest Christian
holidays of the year.

And that, my friends, is the War on Christmas in a nutshell. Lies on top of lies, all told in the name of religion. Those who push this mess claim that it is all about saving "America's religious heritage." In reality, it's all about lining their pockets and expanding their influence

1 comment:

And one thing those religious liars should remember: their holey buybull says in Revelation 21:8, " ... ALL liars ... will have their place in the lake of fire ..." That's ALL liars, not "all liars, with the exception of pentecostals, baptists, televangelists, people on a mission against gays and Muslims ..."

About Me

Alvin McEwen is 45-year-old African-American gay man who resides in Columbia, SC.
McEwen's blog, Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters, and writings have been mentioned by Americablog.com, Goodasyou.org, People for the American Way, PageOneQ.com, The Washington Post, Raw Story, The Advocate, Media Matters for America, Crooksandliars.com, Thinkprogress.org, Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish, Melissa Harris-Perry, The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell, Newsweek, The Daily Beast, The Washington Blade, and Foxnews.com.
In addition, he is also a past contributor to Pam's House Blend,Justice For All, LGBTQ Nation, and Alternet.org. He is a present contributor to the Daily Kos and the Huffington Post,
He is the 2007 recipient of the Harriet Daniels Hancock Volunteer of the Year Award and the 2010 recipient of the Order of the Pink Palmetto from the SC Pride Movement as well as the 2009 recipient of the Audre Lorde/James Baldwin Civil Rights Activist Award from SC Black Pride. In addition, he is a three-time nominee of the Ed Madden Media Advocacy Award from SC Pride.